At Sterling Creations we are committed to helping you create and develop professional, savvy websites to achieve the following objectives:

Become Section 508 compliant

Attract visitors to your website

Entice the visitor to return to your website again and again

Allow for easy downloading of your website no matter how slow or fast the Internet connection speed or the age of the technology may be.

We can help you build websites that are easy to navigate and easy to read and understand. Our websites will enable you to stay ahead of your competition. We will provide you with web content that is crisp and clear. Even for those whose first language is not English, will are able to be of assistance. Visitors to your website will no longer have to deal with fonts that are too small, nor will they have to worry about inappropriate foreground and background colors.

Accessibility

Web Accessibility

What does web accessibility mean? Just opening a web page will work for some people but at Sterling Creations we want to include everyone and everyone doesn't have the same standard. Web sites need to be built in a fashion that includes rather than excludes individuals.

Web Accessibility Guide

The User

What they need

Key Focus

Non-disabled

The common theme with non-disabled users is to find a web site which is not irritating this includes but is not limited to removal of pop-ups, speed up loading times sinc with with other personal devices and still be able to read all the pages.

The User Experience

Blind /Seeing Impaired

Access to key sites including specific banks, home shopping, news, dictionaries, travel agents, and so much more.
However, the sites must
work with a screen-reader (assistive technology) or
provide additional information to cover the fact that they cannot take in purely visual information.

Technical Accessibility

Epilepsy

Pages that do not contain harmful flashing content that could trigger a seizure.

Health & Safety

Elderly

The ability to increase the text size in a page and see consistent navigation which allows them to "remember" their way around and if lost a site map or table of contents.

User Considerations

Support

What they need to do

Key Focus

Software Developers

Focus on the code and ensure mistakes are removed at the authoring stage. Writing code that supports different technologies and devices.

Code

Website Owners

Stay informed and assume a legal responsibility. Key guidelines (outside the United States) and legal implications of the site. Including 508,
the level of WCAG 1.0. being implemented, training and expectations, follow up and maintenance.

Conformance

Web Designer

Understand the 508 standards and WCAG 1.0.
Understanding and applying supporting WCAG techniques.
Identifying tools which help to generate WCAG conformant content.
Making web content which works on different platforms and in different browsers.
Evaluating finished content using tools and comparing against a pre-approved checklist.

Technique

Lawyers

Litigation is becoming more and more prevalent as access to the internet moves from a 'nice to have' to necessity. There is a need to understand existing legislation to determine people's rights and duties. This includes Charter challenges. The ability to seek independent advice about what is 'reasonable' in terms of accessibility.
Using accessibility experts to evaluate whether or not a reasonable level of "accessibility" has been provided;

Independent Expert

Disability Rights Groups

Demands for equalisation of opportunities and the universal adoption of key standards. Canada lags much of the world on access standards.

Opportunity Equalization

Politician

Whoever fought for the first wheelchair ramp is a hero. Making a more inclusive society through policy.
Setting standards & benchmarks.
Promoting the widespread adoption and use of guidelines.
Measuring progress and showing visible results.